Name this boat?

[h2oMag]

The Postma boys from Dryland Marina bought the molds for the 50 Cary and they were building them for a while with the backing of the VanAndel in the mid eighties.I think they than developed the 70.
A guy i think by the name of Mike that used to work for my brother at Baron Marine was heading the whole operation .

They had nothing to do with the little ones with the little 32 and such but that 43 may have been one of their makings.

I believe the 43' was, & only made for two years 1984 85, in Grand Haven Mi ?

[XriggerX]

So What is it?? The question never got answered as we have gone off on a few different tangents (each worthy of its own thread) I'll tell the story of this boat and how I've come to own it. I thinks it's a very interesting story although a little long ( the boat did turn 40 this year so this should be expected) bear with me. I'm gonna tell it star wars style and start in the middle which happens to be where I come in.

In the mid to late eighties I worked for a small boat manufacturer called Thunderboats inc., the name was later changed to Active Thunder in the early nineties when they aquired all the molds from the famous Active Marine company just outside Detroit. My boss was Bobby O (1986 sportsman D-class World Champ- recognize!) This -in my mind - was the end of an era. Before most of powerboat racing became about who had the bigger checkbook. I'm not saying that the racers were less passionate about their sport, but the sport started become way to political and the power struggles and splits and rule changes etc, seemed to change the face of the sport. It didn't seem like it was back in the old days when almost no matter what happened you kept racing. If your boat broke you either kept limping along or you stopped -fixed it and got back into the race. It seems like these days most racers (NOT ALL-by any means) just wanna be seen. The pits are a big parade of " look how money I have" and when something goes wrong with the boat they raise the hatches-scratch their heads and go parading past the spectators on their way back to the pits to tell everyone how tough it was out there. So- back on track-Bobby O had lots of partners in alot of different things- one of the things he was involved with was Midwest Performance Boats in Palatine IL. It was a Cigarette dealer as well as Sonic and Cougar and some others. One day Bob tells me " you've got to go pick up this boat that's sitting in the storage lot across from the dealership" as the property has been sold. I go out there and there's some boat buried in the weeds, which are like 10 feet tall. So I chop down the weeds and find easily one of the coolest boats I had ever seen. Twenty seven feet of PURE SEX- blue metalflake gelcoat, teak hatches and transom- there was even a teak insert between the rubrail and deck, blue metalflake interior, Rocket trailer with Motorwheel co. Spyder mags on it. It was amazing. I drag it back to the shop ( probably breaking a dozen laws on the way) and I'm like "WTF is this thing?" And they're like "Oh that's the first Cigarette ever built- it's serial number 001 and by the way- it's for sale" SOLD!! Now I was a young guy at the time, other than my $100+/ week Snapon addiction as well as some other bad habits like car stereos and useless stuff, I didn't have much money- but I had a plan! My father was(is) a successful surgeon and he liked toys, even more he liked toys that brought the two of us closer together as we didn't have the healthiest of relationships- he was always working and stressed out and I was a punk. So I conned him into putting up the money for the boat. Now being the ethical and cautious kinda guy he was, one of the first phone calls he makes it to the insurance guy. WSell the insurance guy likes toys too and he's like "WOW that sounds neat, I gotta come check this out".

So the insurance guy come to check out the boat, only he ends up at the wrong shop- he's at the boat shop around the corner that just happens to be owned by one of Bobby O's ex partners who happened to also be an ex partner in this boat. So Davey tells this to the insurance guy and tells him where the boat is. The insurance guy comes to our shop to look at the boat and is confused because he can't find the serial number. So he goes back to Davey's shop to ask him about it and Davey says" There is no serial number, your guy's got suckered!" UH OH. So then I'm thinking "Oh man we got F'd" and now my father is getting a little pissed at me. Time for a little homework and research & hopefully it's not to late.So, we start contacting everyone. The factory- no records of this boat - not surprising since the company had changed hands so many times. Craig Barrie - who said "so what-who cares". Bob Magoon- who said it was a prototype design that was never produced, hull size and motor was not usual for production. Michael Aronow remembered seeing the boat in one of the shop but didn't have any details. A Lt. from the US Coast Guard who was an aquaintance of my fathers, ran the registration numbers and stated they belonged to a boat manufactured by Don Aronow w/ the description 26' Cigarette, 390 horsepower inboard, gas operated. He also stated that previous to 1971 the state did not require hull numbers.

And then we track down the son of the original owner, a cousin of Aronow who is now deceased. The son who really seemed like he couldn't care less about the boat didn't really know much other than the story he told us of how they aquired it. The son tells us the family was in Florida for the holidays and he and his father were visiting with Don and were invted to come see Don's boat shop. So they go to the shop and see three of these boats, a blue one, a red one and a yellow one. Mr Rogak says he wants one and ends up with the blue one. I was also told somewhere along the way that one of the others went to a lumber baron in Seattle and the other went to either on of the guys in Hilton or Hyatt families ( I haven't found my notes on this).

Fast forward a few years. When Bobby O was a young kid he had a lunatic neighbor, the guy had all kinds of cars, money , businesses etc. One day he asks Bob if he wants to go check out this boat he's thinking of buying. So they go to this warehouse in Chicago and buried amongst armored personel carriers and tanks is this Cigarette boat. It turns out Mr. Rogak was some kind of arms dealer or so the legend goest & the neighbor ends up buying the boat. He uses the boat for many years until it fall into a state of dissrepair sometime in the mid eighties. I think the last registration sticker expired in 1985. Anyways when I purchased the boat it had been left uncovered for many years, the engine/trans was out, exploded and scattered amongst many garages. It was in need of a total restoration and after all the drama and headaches caused by the serial number snafu I kinda didn't want much to do with the boat for a long time. In the mid nineties? when Thunder was sold a couple of time I bounced around with a few different jobs and ended up opening up my own rigging/service shop. I don't know if I would call it successful but it was very busy- all the time. And while I've always wanted to restore this boat, the last thing I wanted to do with my free time was work on another boat, I was working 80 hours a week on average. I thought even if it was restored I really wouldn't use it much as there are only a few places to boat around here and I didn't want to spend my days off with the very customers that drove me crazy all week long. So the boat just sat, hidden away in secrecy until now. I actually pulled it out of storage last year and have slowly began workin on it, the biggest problem I have is figuring out what to do with regards to re-gelcoating the boat and keeping it the original blue metalflake. I look forward to doing all the other stuff, which I do very little of these days since I've closed my shop. Whatever this boat turns out to be I will always dig it, I always have- the history of it is just a bonus. I feel fortunate that our paths have crossed and honored to be part of it's history ( I hope that wasn't to mushy)

So let the speculation begin!! If you guys aren't tired of me by now I can post all the verifiable info I have on the boat ie. serial numbers and build dates on the trailer, engine package, fuel tank etc. Thanks for your interest.

[Bobcat]

Keep posting , we love this stuff !

[Offshore Ginger]

XriggerX...................................WOW and what a post .XriggerX - That must of took some time hey.

[Out There]

Outstanding story. Would certainly like to see more pictures and hear about the restoration. Very good stuff!

[24degrees]

Great story....hope you restore it!

[northernoffshore]

this sticker is from 1971. The decal on your boat looks older. I have only seen a decal like yours in photo's from searace. That boat has to be pre70's?

[XriggerX]

What is the story behind the decals. The one on the boat I have is very similar to the one on the boat below, the difference being the top logo. Was this some sort of "interim" decal that was used during transitional periods? Also that Shelby daytona coupe (from '65?) has a very similar oval with USA in the center.

[XriggerX]

I've got another question. Why are there so many stories floating around of people buying boats " directly from Don himself". I understand if it was a boat made by whatever company he was running at the time, but why would he sell someone a Magnum in 1972 while he was running CRT? Did he he get some sort of compensation? Were these boats that drastically different in their opinion? Or are these instances of people hearing these stories and saying " Oh that's good, I'm gonna use that one!" ?

[DAREDEVIL]

Or are these instances of people hearing these stories and saying " Oh that's good, I'm gonna use that one!" ?

THATS IT I GUESS,,,,isn't always like that ??

[goinsideways]

Does anyone know what drive was in the other Boats that could be a sister to this one. This Boat has a V Drive. I took the picture on that day back in December. Can Brownie shed some light on the Boat being loaded with the Cigarette logo all over it so early on before the 28 was built. When did the 28 come out I may have the time line wrong..I Think The boat is or could be a concept pre opening day to the Cigarette name on the front door. Maybe Don picked up the decals on that day and put them on this boat and the next day Cigarette boat company was up and running..I SEE One day is just like the next when it is 80 out no big deal back then...That is my two cents on it...Get the boat in the water time is a burn in. Good luck..

[XriggerX]

The Vdrive set-up seems to have been very common in the mid to late sixties race boats. I'll bet it was durable as hell, only it offered no trimability. The other benefit it seems to have had was a very low (engine) crank-line center as there was no X dimension to contend with. It looks like the this boat went on to become the Squadron and when it was switched over to a stern drive the rear engine room section was raised to accomadate the higher engine mounting dimensions, if you think about it alot of Dons boats seem to have this modification.

[Bud Weisner]

I have seen the boat in person that XriggerX has described...it is one cool boat that he needs to restore.Would love to see him running the boat on Lake Michigan on a calm day,it would be a blast.You need to uncover it and take more pictures so everyone can really see it. Bud

[northernoffshore]

Restoring the blue metal flake gel coat is going to be hard. Maybe there is an old checkmate or baja employee who knows how to shoot the gel coat right and could offer some advice?